


What set his soul on fire

by Gaia_bing



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adventurer Steve Rogers, Caves, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, First Meetings, Happy Ending, Hydra Steve Rogers, M/M, Made Up Technology, Made up places, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, There was only one blanket (sort of), Youtuber wannabe Bucky Barnes, but not the way you think, travelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28808892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaia_bing/pseuds/Gaia_bing
Summary: Or, how someone who thought himself as an adventurer wannabe and an actual Youtuber wannabe met and fell for one another......but not before hating each other for a bit at first.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 26
Kudos: 22





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> So, this work that I'm posting here is something that I'm actually really proud of. It's all been written, it just needs to be edited and posted where it needs to be posted. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed actually writing it.

In some high-rise building in New York City, Alexander Pierce was feeling as giddy as a child on Christmas. 

  
Was it because he had just closed off a very enriching deal?

  
No, he had done some much of those in his days than even deposing something as big as a billion dollars up in one go felt like simple pennies to him.

  
Was it because he had just closed off another kind of enriching deal, this one in the sexual realm of things? 

  
Again, no. While he had been quite the stud in his hay-days (and had bedded a lot of women _and_ men), this side of his life had become way, _way_ quieter the more he advanced in age. 

  
Not that he still didn't dip his pen in the carnal ink from time to time, but this was not the time nor the place to talk about this particularly private matter.

  
No, he was excited as can be because he'd just received the news:

  
The "Hydra" excavation team's plane had just entered US flying space, which meant only one thing:

  
His collection of ancient artifacts from around the world was about to get a brand new addition.

* * *

  
Meanwhile, in suburban Indiana, right in the heart of a small town called Shelbyville, Winifred Barnes was pacing nervously around her livingroom while thinking to herself:

  
_"Did he pack enough sweaters? I hope he packed enough sweaters. You just can't pack enough sweaters. Maybe I should knit him another sweater before he goes."_

  
_"Ooh, I hope he doesn't get stuck in some kind of monster road jam and he runs out of fuel."_

  
_"What if a huge snowstorm ends up hitting and I didn't make enough jam for him to last through the night?"_

  
_"Come on now, Winnie! It never even snows where he's going..."_

  
_"Oh god! What if a huge sandstorm ends up hitting and I didn't make enough jam for him to last through the night?!"_

  
But taking a deep breath, she tried to calm down by...talking to herself out loud this time around...

  
"Winifred Mary Barnes! Get a hold of yourself! You're sixty five years old and your son is nearly thirty! If there is one thing that he can do, is handling himself just fine."

  
Only for the stress to come back with a vengeance when she suddenly shrieked out loud:

  
"Oh _god_! What if he can't handle himself just fine?!"

* * *

  
"There you go, sir. The very top of the Ygelian Pyramid, right from the heart of the Rain Forest. Just like you asked." the man standing in front of Alexander's homme office desk said with a bit of pride in his voice. 

  
The elder man was so overjoyed when he saw the small golden triangular object land right into the palm of his hands, if he'd been alone he probably would have wept. 

  
But, being in front of the muscled-bound and trek weary leader of the "Hydra" team, now was really not the time. 

  
So, with a simple grin, he put down the artifact he'd been waiting for weeks on top of his desk and from out of one of its drawer, took out one of his many, _many_ checkbooks.

  
"And here's the compensation in one payment, just like I promised." he announced right back. He began to write on the small piece of paper he'd just ripped out, when he suddenly stopped and looked up once again. "I'm sorry, but does your family name have an "S" at the end of it again? I'm always lost when it comes to that part." he asked the other man with a sheepish look upon his face.

  
And the standing man, with a tired sigh, ran a large hand down his face, then rested it just below his beard as he responded:

  
"It does have an "S" at the end. My name's Steve Rogers, not Steve Roger."

* * *

  
While this was going on, an almost tearful scene was being played out in front of a parked 1992 red Chevrolet.

  
"Ma."

  
_***Smack*** _

  
"Ma."

  
**_*Smack*_ **

  
"Ma!" 

  
Winifred finally stopped dropping kisses all over her embarrassed son's face and, like the mother hen she'd always been, began asking the usual list of goodbye questions she usually brought out whenever one of her sweet babies went away for a lengthy period of time:

  
"Your backpack's in order?"

  
"Yes, Ma."

  
"The ice in the cooler is cold enough?"

  
"Yes, Ma."

  
"Every time you make a pit stop, you call me or you text me, alright?"

  
"Yes, Ma. You know I will."

  
"Oh, but does your phone have enough battery? Shouldn't you charge it a little bit more before leaving? What about your camera? I..."

  
But James, her always loving son, also did the one thing he usually did whenever he went away for a lengthy period of time:

He gently put his hands on top of hers and with a reassuring smile, he said: "Listen, Ma. This isn't my first trip and you know that. Every time I've come back in one piece and this time isn't going to be any different."

  
Winifred couldn't help but smile a little at her son's sweet words. But still...

  
"I know, but this one is for your big debut and I just want everything to go perfectly for you. Who knows what people might think when they see you on "ViewTube"..."

  
"It's "YouTube", Ma." James corrected for her.

  
Winifred now was the one embarrassed. "Right, "YouTube". Who knows what the Internet people are going to say if they see you stumble on the very first episode of that show that you wanna make." 

  
But James had already thought about that possibility as he responded: "Well, I'll just have to make it a practice video or something and make sure it never sees the light of day." Tightening her wrinkled hand one more time, James nodded his head towards the vehicle he'd been gifted by his father as he added: "Look, I've got a whole day's worth of driving to do before I even think of arriving at my destination. So, if you want me to actually come back in one piece like the other times, I should probably leave first, okay?"

  
With a final resigned sigh, Winifred let her son go. "You're right. I'll let you do what you have to do. But the _minute_ you get a chance Bucky..."

  
"I call or text you, I know. You don't have to worry about a thing when it comes to me, Ma." replied the long-haired man as he gave one final kiss to the elderly woman's cheek and, with a smile and wave, wished his mother goodbye. 

And, just like that, James "Bucky" Barnes was on his way.


	2. Not what you think it is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were more like treasure hunters than an excavation team. But even then...

In the back of a large cargo plane, Steve Rogers was busy knotting together his rappelling line and stuffing it inside his trusty toolbelt while doing some thinking.

  
Now, you may think to yourself: "Why in the world would a member of an excavation team need a rappelling line? Aren't excavation teams like the one in that Jurassic Park movie: where all you need to do your work is a couple of shovels and sweepers to, well, dig and sweep and you're good to go?"

Well, you see...about that...

  
The team called themselves an excavation unit, but only so that they didn't have every feds of every countries that they visited up their asses all of the fucking time. 

  
They weren't as big fans of digging up dinosaurs or tree residues as they were doing it to ancients artifacts. 

  
Because this was what the "Hydra" team really was: an ancient artifact hunting business. 

  
...well again, the term "hunting" wasn't really the right term to define what they were actually doing. Because hunting for something meant not knowing where said thing actually was and how to actually get it.

  
And the reality was, whenever "Hydra" needed to strike, they always knew exactly what they were doing and they knew precisely where they needed to go. 

  
So then, if there was no thrill of the unknown whatsoever in what they were doing, why in the world were they actually doing it?

  
Simple, it was for the cold hard cash every mission brought them.

  
As for Steve? Well it was-

  
"Hey Cap!" 

- _not_ because of the man who was now standing in front of him and had greeted the bearded man by the comms name everyone on the team called him whenever they were doing "excavations" together.

  
"Hey Brock." Steve replied with a sigh, not even at the man for a second at he continued wrapping the black elastic cord around his elbow. 

  
Now, do not interpret this reaction as Steve not liking his fellow "Hydra" teammate Brock Rumlow and being displeased by his sudden appearance.

  
(Even though the guy _was_ a bit too much of a yes-boss-man for Steve's tastes, so much so that sometimes he wondered if Brock would be a better fit as leader of the team than he was. But, as the old saying goes: _"It takes all kinds of people to make a world."_ )

  
Sitting next to him, Brock was the one sighing now as he said: "Zemo just told me about what Mr. Pierce's next demand. This one's a solo mission?"

  
Finally looking up, Steve shrugged his shoulders as he replied: "Yep. Why do you think I've been doing all of this and haven't slept a wink?"

  
Brock looked confused. "And you're not jumping for joy because...?"

  
And that right there was what made Steve finally stop the twisting movements of his arm, as he looked up once again at his interlocutor and answered with only seven words:

  
"Because it's in the Decadevian Caves. It's the place I've been wanting to see ever since I was a kid and now...

  
...now I've got to destroy a part of it. "

* * *

  
After almost 30 hours of non-stop driving, intercut by a 6 hour-nap inside a motel so seedy that he would rather forget the experience than talk about it,

  
...because really, what kind of place had _that_ many cockroaches...

  
...and about thirty different calls and texts to his mother, of course...

  
Bucky turned the key off and out of the ignition and let out a long sigh of relief.

  
He had finally come at his destination:

  
The Decadevian Caves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone that wanted to know what Steve looks like in this story: https://www.cgmeetup.net/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Call-Of-Duty-Online-FULL-Live-1.jpg
> 
> Imagine him with this attire, that beard and with blonde hair.


	3. The Decadevian Caves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, where exactly are Steve and Bucky going to? Well...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, two chapters for the price of one! I decided to post Chapters 2 and 3 together because I thought they belonged in one giant pack. :)

_"Testing...testing..."_

_"Can you hear me?"_

  
_"Alright, so the sound seems to be pretty good but what about the...gah! Way too bright in there!"_

  
_"So, let me tweak that right here...and let me press that and...it looks like we're good to go!"_

  
_"Ahem, ahem._

  
_The Decadevian Caves were discovered in 1978 near the border between California and Nevada. The story goes that a boy that was playing with his group of friends hit a baseball a little too hard and, when he went to retrieve it, he saw a big black dot on the side of a nearby mountain. Well this big black dot opened up a brand new world of discovery, history and natural beauty and today, on the premiere of **"Show-I-have-no-idea-what-to-call-yet"** , we're going to show it all to you."_

  
_Aaaand scene."_

  
Bucky beamed with pride as he looked at what he'd just recorded. Sure, it wasn't on the most modern, most technically perfect camera there was, since he'd only paid 50 bucks for it at the pawn shop just behind his mother's house and the lens' cap was about _this_ close to fall off whenever he popped it on, but this was what he was going to use. Maybe, in the future, if the _"Show-he-had-no-idea-what-to-call-yet"_ was a success and started to get an actual salary out of it, then he'd able to afford something more professional looking than something that looked like it came straight from 1995, but for now, this was all the material that he had. 

  
Speaking of which, unloading the content of his backpack just at the entrance of the big black dot that he'd mentioned at the beginning of his video, Bucky listed everything that he would need in what would total as a two day trip:

  
1) His camera, of course. 

  
2) A white, double knotted rope for when he'd need to climb upwards and downwards the many steep walls, slopes and holes the Caves contained. 

  
3) A small flashlight he'd be able to wear around his head so it wouldn't be cumbersome inside his hands.

  
4) A small freezer with enough food to feed an entire army, let alone one person.

Among other things that were less vital for the well-being of his trek.

  
After concluding that he had everything he needed, Bucky gathered all of his material that he didn't at the moment in his backpack and, camera and rope in hand, he finally made his way through the same entrance those playing boys had found all those years ago with excitement in his head and a stressed fluttering in his heart.

* * *

  
Even if it had taken place a whole day earlier earlier, while going through the entrance of the Caves, Steve still felt kind of pissed at the conversation he and Mr. Pierce had in that pristine home office.

  
_"With all due respect, sir, but you've got to be kidding me."_

  
_The elder man had raised an eyebrow at his employee's sudden outburst. "What? Is there something wrong with what I just asked you to do? You've never said a single word when it came down to do the other jobs, but this one you have a problem with?" he'd asked, nodding towards the small golden pyramid laying on top of his oak-tree made desk the other man had brought him merely minutes earlier._

  
_Noticing he'd probably stuck his foot inside his mouth just there, Steve did one of the things he was best at: defusing a spiny situation._

  
_"But of course I don't have a problem with it sir!" he suddenly said through what looked like a beaming smile from afar, but was a actually just teeth gritting together when taking a closer look. "It's just that where you're sending me is pretty much right in our backyard and I thought you were more of a fan of exotic looking antiques, not things that seemed to belong in some kind of hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere. I mean, I've been at your service for like three years now and I've never seen even one stuffed animal in your entire collection."_

  
_The grin returned to Mr. Pierce once more. "Yeah, well you're right about me being more of an foreign amateur, but this time I want something that I know comes straight from my home and this fits the bill to a T." his employer said and right there, even though Steve knew he had just saved himself from his previous faux pas, that didn't necessarily mean that he did the same when it came to do the actual job._

  
"And what exactly does he want inside those caves?" had asked Brock after being informed of Mr. Pierce's request.

  
Steve had sighed and explained: 

  
"Since they're just at the entrance of California and a couple of faults meets there because its lives side by side with the border Nevada, there can be a lot of tremors going by in one day. Some small, some bigger. The first people living around these parts believed that those tremors came from the God of the Buffalos traversing the area every day to check if nature was in order. So, to commemorate that, they did what they did best: paint. And since canvas didn't really exist back then..."

  
"They did like the cavemen did even further back: they painted on the cavern walls." had finished Brock to which the other man had nodded and added:

  
"And this is what Mr. Pierce wants me to get: a piece of the fresco that resides deep in the Caves, representing the God of the Buffalos." 

  
Brock had put a hand on one of his shoulders as he said: "Look, I've seen you made that kind of face before when we were given a mission. But you're our leader Steve and you need to set an example. And that example passes by the application of the Rules and you know it."

  
Steve had internally groaned at that particular mention. Those goddamn _"Hydra Golden Rules"_ that he and the team had always lived by, no matter what they were supposed to get and whom was actually asking for it:

  
1) Get in there.

2) Retrieve the item.

  
3) Shut the fuck up about it.

  
4) And leave. 

  
Among other directives that were less vital to the well being of the mission. 

  
Steve had been _this_ close to raise his head and ask the other man: _"Are you sure **you** don't want be the one setting an example by becoming the leader?"_ when a another male voice had called out from the cockpit:

  
_"Hey Cap! I've got direct view with the mountain and that black dot thingy. You're ready to go?"_

  
Steve's previous frown had turned into a grin at Zemo's name for the entrance of the Caves. 

  
"Black Dot Thingy", it sounded like the title of a kids show. 

  
And so, with a sigh, the leader of the "Hydra" team had reluctantly gotten up, had picked up what basically looked like a mix of a fanny pack and Batman's toolbelt, filled to the brim with all of cutting-edge technology and knick-knacks the team always brought with them whenever it was go-time and with a pat of his own on Brock's shoulder, he had saluted the other man with a: 

  
_"See you when what's done is done, man."_


	4. Bucky enters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what it says on the tin.

Somewhere deep inside a mountain, on a sinuous rocky floor, a paper map was being displayed on a small camera screen.

  
"Now, as you can see here." Bucky told his (god did he hope he would actually get one) future audience. "there's one entrance to the Decadevian Caves just at the base of this mountain and the exit is on its same size, about a hundred miles above where we first came in. The whole thing is pretty much just a single, humongous U-turn that contains huge areas, known as caverns, that are cut by much more tightly sized tunnels to get to each of them. So far, into getting to the first cavern that I'm showing you right this instant, I had to go through about a half a mile worth of tunnels and let me tell you, it has been quite a while since I've had to crawl and squeezed myself that much." 

  
Putting the lens on his smirking face once more, he added: "My goal is to show you guys each of the five caverns of this piece of natural beauty, with the main event being the fifth one, hidden right in the heart of the mountain where an actual piece of Human history has been left intact there for a very, _very_ long time now, even though there are apparently dozens of speleology treks being organized around these parts every year. So, I'm going to cut my rambling right about here and I'll see you guys in the next cavern where it is going to be an echo bonanza. You'll see what I mean when we get there."

  
And once again...scene.

* * *

  
On top of not being claustrophobic, right now the long-haired man was thanking the lord he wasn't afraid of heights.

  
He didn't remember the last time he had to use so much rope. Maybe back when he was 16 and he and his sister had gone on their very first wildlife trip together, the one that had given him the itch to discover more than just what his backyard contained?

  
But, Rebecca having found her calling in teaching, with a steady job in that particular field for a few years now, it had been up to big brother to carry on the Barnes family's call for the adventurous lifestyle.

  
An adventurous lifestyle that so far, even with an anthropology diploma with dual minors in natural science and geography in his back pocket, hadn't really opened any kind of professional opportunities for the long-haired man in a town as small as Shelbyville had been, proven by the fact that at 29, he was still living with his mother and the only way that he had found to make hands meet was to help out at the local gym and rock climbing center.

  
Not that he could really complain though, it gave him the opportunity to eat some fine, *fine* home-made meal every day made by the woman that still regarded him as her sweet little bitty Bucky baby and public hours at the Center had been quite the blessing to him, as it made him find the way he'd finally be able to do what he'd loved since he'd been a teenager and make a living off of it.

And the way that he'd found to do all of that?

  
Through the magic of "YouTube", something pretty much everyone and their mothers (and fathers) were hooked on these days, including all of those he'd seen climbing up and down at his workplace.

  
Most precisely, the magic of "YouTube" and its monetization.

  
Or so he hoped.

  
...if he could make his way between those two mineral ledges right in front of him first.

  
Well, if he wanted to get to the second cavern...

* * *

  
"So, after a lot of repelling and even some jumping, I'm finally here. As you can see, this cavern is much more bigger than the first one we've visited earlier and when I said that this was an echo bonanza, check this out." Bucky announced and, as he turned the lens towards one of the reddish walls of the cave, he began to scream at the top of his lungs:

  
"HELLO!!!"  
_"Hello!!!"_

When he heard his own voice answer him back, he couldn't help but grin. Swinging his legs back and forth like a child on the ledge that he'd installed himself, he continued:

"HOW DO YOU DO???"  
_"How do you do???"_

"I'M FINE, THANK YOU!!!"  
_"I'm fine, thank you!!!"_

  
"SO WHAT'S YOUR NAME???"

  
"...it's Steve."


	5. Steve enters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once again, exactly what it says on the tin.

From the moment Steve entered the Caves, he knew something was wrong. 

  
Well, he became aware of it around the fifteen minutes point, but still, it was the feeling that counted. 

A feeling that crept into the back of his neck the further he went through the passages. The one that told him that he wasn't 100% alone in this place, that something or someone was shadowing him.

  
But the thing was, whenever he prepared for missions, Steve had always done his homework, no matter the place and no matter his level of excitement about said mission. And this one had been no different: he'd checked all of the speleology and tourism schedules and there wasn't supposed to be anybody around from these two fields for at _least_ a week, giving him plenty of time to do what he had to do. 

  
So then, what in the world was he hearing just now? Just the echoes of his own steps? A paranoid trick from his own mind? 

  
...a wild beast he hadn't accounted for?

  
Not that he hadn't been faced with danger before, after all it did come with the job, but he thought this one was going to be easy-peasy. A complete breeze with nothing to worry about. 

  
It was just after leaving the first cavern and about to climb a sedimentary wall to start his trek to the second one that he finally found what had seemingly been following this entire time: 

  
It was one of those "YouTube" vlogger, if he went by the intro he heard echoing just behind him. 

Someone named..."Hugsy"? "Bubbly"? "Yucky?" 

  
Yeah, the echo, as reassuring as it had been that this wasn't some predator stalking its prey, hadn't really been clear about the identity of the other person inside the Caves at this very moment. 

  
But, it did confirm one point: it was a complete innocent person and if Steve accelerated his pacing, he could accomplish his mission without this man with a honey-melting voice even knowing he'd been here in the first place.

  
...since when did he think someone had a honey-melting voice?

* * *

  
"Continue the mission." he told himself time and time again.

  
"This person won't harm you, this person's not against you, this person will never even know you were there."

  
"So, just get crackin' and continue walkin'."

  
"Just continue walkin'"

  
"Continue..."

  
_"So, after a lot of repelling and even some jumping..."_

  
"...walking."

* * *

  
Steve knew he shouldn't be hiding behind that stalactite.

  
He knew it, he knew it, he _knew_ it.

  
But whoever that had been taking the same path as he had for about two to three hours now was back to talking to the rather large (and honestly, quite cumbersome looking), camera he'd brought along with him and the moment the sound literarily floated to the bearded man's ears, he knew he had to see to who exactly it belonged to. 

  
So, Steve did the one thing he'd never did before whenever he'd been on a mission:

  
He wasted some time.

  
This objective-delaying for a couple of minutes became fruitful, as he finally had the opportunity to get a glance at whom had practically been at his heels all this time.

  
And oh...

  
Oh, sweet _lord_. 

  
If he'd thought the voice he'd heard before was honey-melting, who it belonged to could melt so... _so_ much more than all of the gooey stuff the Earth contained.

  
Long dark hair in a ponytail.

  
A frame not too bulked-up, not too stringy, but _just_ right. 

  
Straps placed in...places...

  
A face that looked determined but also welcoming.

  
Dear god, his nether regions had just reached the North Pole just by this sight alone.

  
But, Steve reminded himself, an excited mind wasn't a focused mind, so he needed to do something about this whole situation before proceeding to what he came here to do in the first place.

  
...and if he also wanted some more info about the hot guy he'd just peeked at? Well, sue him.

  
And so, when at last, he saw his opportunity coming...

  
_"SO WHAT'S YOUR NAME???"_

  
He had jumped right at it. 

  
"...it's Steve."

  
Naturally, he'd accounted for the fact that he would probably be received with surprise...

  
....but what he hadn't anticipated however, was the swift kick right in the tibia that followed soon after.


	6. A tale of two tibias

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath.

Bucky had been an idiot.

  
An absolute, _complete_ idiot. 

  
No, scratch that, he hadn't been an idiot... 

  
He had just been reckless and not paying attention. 

  
Because the signs had all been there, really, now that he thought about it:

  
The large boot prints that seemed to have been made just before his own at the entrance,

  
The sound of a falling rock that he _knew_ he hadn't been the cause of,

  
But the most telling had been the smell. The smell that had dominated the earthly one the long-haired man thought would be the only one that he would breathe. 

  
But no, ever since his first steps into the Caves, he had definitely smelled something unusual, something...

  
_Fragrant_. 

  
Had it been an aftershave? Had it been just some put-on perfume? Or just something that came from the person itself? 

  
And what _was_ that smell? Something flowery, like maybe lavender or roses? Or maybe something fruity, like citrus and cucumber? Or something in the tree and spice type, like pine or even cinnamon?

  
He hadn't known. 

  
But it had been one of the most sweetest smell that he'd ever inhaled and somewhere, deep down somewhere, had given him an extra boost energy and confidence to continue what he'd begun to undertake. 

  
Now, the reaction that he had when he saw exactly to whom this wonderful aroma belonged to wasn't because he wasn't alone inside the Caves anymore. 

  
On the contrary.

  
Even thought he'd decided to tackle this particular endeavor all by himself, didn't mean that his mind hadn't been opened for some company. Someone to talk about what they'd seen beforehand, what they were going to see after and hey, why not do a little bit of the way together while sharing some stories and laughing like a bunch of silly idiots? 

  
No, his reaction stemmed for the fact that he instantly recognized what kind of man he was standing in front of...

  
With his steelcapped boots and his nicely-assed camo pants,

  
With his toolbelt that seemed to contain things that were _way_ too technological advanced to belong to a simple mountaineered or speleological person,

  
With his nametag that read "Cap" on his really, _really_ nice muscled-up chest,

  
And finally, with the logo of a skull resting on top of a bunch of tentacles, indicating that he belonged to some kind of group...

  
Some kind of nefarious-waysy group, maybe even a bad-guysy group. 

  
And so therefore, the reason he kicked the man straight into the tibia without even a second thought. 

* * *

  
"OW! What in the living hell did you do that for?!" were the next words that came out of Steve's mouth, as he clutched his now very throbbing leg...

  
(While other things had definitely stopped throbbing, at least for the moment.)

  
"Because! You...you...you?" were Bucky's first words to the now one-kneeling man. Seeing his pained expression, the long-haired man's brain froze for a moment. 

  
Why... had he done this... exactly?

  
But seeing the creature resting on the other man's fine, _fine_ bicep made him remember:

  
Right, maybe nefarious-waysy.

  
Feeling his thoughts once again starting up, Bucky finally responded: "Because buddy, unless you're dressed as some military guy and about to go to some Deep Cavern Halloween Party that I didn't know about, you really don't look like someone who belongs in a place like this. Am I right or am I not, "Cap"?

  
Steve's own mind was now going a mile a minute.

  
Oh, sh _it_. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Usually it was another member of the team, Maria Hill, that handled everything PR and answered all the questions a curious person had about the group and what they were doing, but since he was alone and this was the first time he'd ever encountered someone on said solo mission, he...had no idea what to say. 

  
But, then again, if Maria could handle it just fine, then he as the Captain of the team could handle it even better. And so, taking a deep breath and putting on his best winning smile, he answered in his best commandeering and booming voice:   
"Why, I'm an archeologist, my good sir! Steve's the name and I'm here to see if there are any ancient bones that I can dig up and show their existence to the world. I mean, why else would I be here?"

But the other man was having none of it, as he simply stood there, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently on the ground, while giving Steve the most squinting stare he'd ever seen someone give him.

  
Clicking his tongue, Bucky squinted his eyes even further. "Huh, huh. Listen here, Commando-boy. I don't know if you think I'm stupid and I have no idea what I'm doing, but the Caves that we're in? They ain't no archeological site. And I should know, I read everything that I could about it before coming here. Also, unless you have some very, _very_ small sweeper or shovel on that Bat-belt of yours, I'm not buying what you're selling me right now." 

"...would you buy it if I tell you that I'm a "YouTube" vlogger like you seem to be?" was all Steve could think to reply...

  
...before seeing the other man suddenly approach him.

And, feeling hands roaming around his back for a second there,

  
Steve could only watch in abject horror as the complete stranger, now with a winning smile of his own, was now the one proudly wearing his toolbelt...

  
But, his brain having been trained to be as quick as a cat,

  
He retaliated with a punch right into the other man's own tibia and Bucky, also kneeling onto the ground, was now the one staring in abject horror, as the complete stranger had reached into the backpack he'd been carrying and was now holding the one thing that he _absolutely_ needed to do the rest of his trek:

  
His trusty map.

  
And so, the two strangers found themselves at a complete stalemate, suffering from dual throbbing tibia, having absolutely no idea what to do next.


	7. The annoyance and the deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Steve now have to deal...with each other.

"So, as you can see, I haven't moved a inch, when in my last interference I had promised to show you guys the third Cavern, which is just a crystalline- "

  
_"IT'S JUST A STUPID POOL OF UNDERGROUND WATER!!!"_

"And as you can probably hear, I ran into a little bit of trouble. This guy, this screaming punk of a guy-"

_"OH PLEASE, LIKE YOU'RE SO HOT, MR. I'M-A-JERK!!!"_

"...this guy right here, pretty much stole the one thing that was helping me not to get lost: the map that I was showing you guys earli-"

_"YEAH WELL, THAT'S BECAUSE YOU STOLE MY TOOLBELT FIRST THAT I DID THAT! YOU KNOW, WHEN I GET TO THAT SO-CALLED CRYSTALINE SHIT YOU'RE BLABBING ON ABOUT, I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE IT BECOMES OBSOLETE FOR EVERYBODY, EVEN FOR YOU!!!"_

"Oh yeah? Well, since you're threatening and annoying the shit out of me right now, I'm going to do the exact same thing to you. I mean, speaking of your precious toolbelt, it would be oh so bad if all of its content became obsolete because somebody used it all, right? Let us see what it contains, right my future audience?"

That sight of the stranger reaching to the belt he had clipped around his waist made Steve freeze in terror and stop his screaming.

"Hey...don't..."

But Bucky didn't hear him, as the first item he reached was...what looked like a mini-laser.

"Oh, look at what we have right here. I mean, unless you have a mini Jedi duel scheduled with someone deep inside these Caves, I just can't see why in the world you would bring this kind of thing in a-ah, I see." he said and Steve turned even more blanche than before when Bucky's scowl turned to a look of pure rage as he asked: "You were planning on getting a piece of the God of the Buffalo painting that's in the heart of these Caves has and bring it back to your employer, weren't you? Weren't you?!"

Steve tried to defend himself: "Look, you've got it all wrong, I don't-" but, feeling the pure disgust coming from Bucky even from his side of the cavern, he could only nod and look at its rocky floor, feeling as small as ever before.

Turning of the camera because the shot he'd tried to take had pretty much been ruined anyway, the long-haired man barked with contempt just dripping from his tone:

"Ah, god! People like you and your stupid greed, I hate it!" 

This made Steve suddenly rise up from his spot on the ground as he interjected: "Oh, yeah? Well, you seeking fame like you are right now with your "YouTube" and your camera right there is just as sinful as the work that I've been doing. Am I right or am I not, Bubsy?"

Putting his hands on his hips, Bucky was once again tapping his foot on the ground as he responded: "Alright, first of all, my name is Bucky, not Bubsy. Second of all, I'll let you know that being a "Youtuber" is a very clean business, alright? I wanna show the people of the world the beauty that said world contains, alright? I don't actually wanna destroy it for a bunch of change, just like you're doing."

Now Steve was the one crossing his arms as he said: "Oh yeah? And what if your videos get like a thousand views each? Or even worse, a hundred? Then what? Or your channel gets strike down and you can't reach your so-called "people of the world" anymore? What are you going to do then, huh?" 

And now Bucky was the one trying to defend himself as he said: "Well, I'd be just...I mean...I..." Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose as he said: "Look, it feels like we've been going around in circles without even moving a single muscle. Since it's been established that we're both very sinful people, how about we just continue our own way?" 

Steve was the one now scoffing as he answered: "Oh yeah and how do you want me to do that if I don't have the stuff that I need to continue?"

"Well, how in the world do you want me to do that if I don't have the stuff that _I_ need to continue?" answered back Bucky.

"Well, just give me my toolbelt first and I'll give you back your map!" interjected Steve.

"Oh, like I suddenly trust you to not do what you were intending to do. How about you give me my map first and I'll give you back your toolbelt!" said Bucky

"Oh, please, like I suddenly trust you to not stop me into doing what I was intending to do. So, sorry, but no dice." announced Steve.

"Yeah? Well no dice for you too!" announced back Bucky.

"Well, fine!" said Steve.

"Fine!" said Bucky.

They both turned away from the other, the both of them crossing their arms and pouting like a duo of petulant children.

  
A minute passed...maybe two...

  
Until...

  
"Still feeling like going in circles?" finally asked Steve.

  
"...yeah." responded a reluctant Bucky.

  
Turning his head at the (very quite nice looking) back of the other man, Steve sighed as he finally proposed: "Look, I don't know if you're going to accept, but I'm putting this out there: I keep the map..."

  
"Hey!" said Bucky, finally turning his own head and looking at the (very quite nice looking) face of the other man.

  
Holding a finger to shush the long-haired man, Steve continued: "I keep the map and I guide the two of us through the rest of this place so you can continue to see stuff and do your stupid show and in return, you give me half of my stuff back right now."

  
Thinking about it, Bucky counter-offered: "I give you the third of your stuff back right now, if you let me see over your shoulder exactly where we're going so I'll know you're not double-crossing me."

  
"...if I triple-triple promise you right now that I'm not going to double-cross you in any way, while we get to the rest of the caverns you throw at me what I need when I tell you to." Steve final-offered.

  
"...except for the laser. That you'll get when we get to the final cavern. And that also goes for the map when it comes to me. " Bucky also final-offered.

A grin finally appeared on Steve's face as he said: "Well, looks like we've got ourselves a deal. Shake on it?"

Bucky also smiled as he responded: "Shake on it."

And they both slightly regretted what they'd both agree to do, as the moment their hands came together in a firm shake, a warm and buzzing sensation travelled all the way up their arms. 

They both looked at one another, hands still firmly clasped...

  
...it was kind of getting uncomfortable now...

  
Until...

  
"So, should we go?" finally asked Bucky, now feeling as hot in the face as he'd been feeling on the arm.

"Yeah, yeah, we should!" finally answered Steve, with embarrassment in his laugh, as well as in his head.

  
And, after a final beat, they both reluctantly let of the other's hand.


	8. Less of a punk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pair continue their trek, this time which each other.

About two hours later, right in the middle of a passageway...

  
"Can't believe we have to go through something that tight." 

  
Bucky suddenly stopped what he was doing and turned his head to glare at the man behind him. "Okay, first of all, we're in what was basically a freakin' crack inside a mountain only twenty years ago that was so narrow even a single rat had difficulty getting through. So of course it's going to be a tight fit for a human being. Second of all and I feel like I'm just repeating myself at this point, this is like your twentieth complain about something in the past thirty minutes. Do you want me to act like your mother and confiscate your stuff?" he asked in an exasperated manner.

  
"Well first of all, my mother's been dead since I was eighteen so no, you can't act like her and second of all, you already confiscated my stuff!" retaliated Steve.

  
"...do you actually want to get past the last cavern and get your stuff back? Yes or no?" finally asked Bucky.

  
To which Steve replied in a sigh: "...yes."

  
"Good, now shush." was what Bucky said to that and to himself he couldn't help but mutter: "'Complains just so much. 'Can't believe I have to make the rest the trip of this guy! Those bad guys he's with are either super saints or super, super evil to tolerate him!"

  
"I heard that!" said Steve from his bottom position.

  
"Oh and third of all, "tight fit"? Super original innuendo." retorted Bucky as he continued his upwards crawling.

  
"And *you*'re the one that's calling _me_ a complainer..." mumbled Steve.

  
"And _I_ heard _that_!"

* * *

  
"Alright, so to get to the third cavern..." began Steve a bit later, while walking and looking at the map in his hands.

  
"That's just a stupid pool of underground water, like you said." retorted Bucky sarcastically.  
That made the bearded roll his eyes and sigh. Stopping his walk and shaking his head, he asked: "Hey, do you actually want to show your future "YouTube" audience that stupid pool of underground water, yes or no?"

  
"...yes." finally answered the other man reluctantly.  
"Good, then you're the one now that shushes." said Steve, before continuing. "Now, according to this thing, we're about to arrive near a pretty high wall that we're gonna have to climb. Aaanndd, here it is." 

  
Well, what did Bucky know? There really was a pretty high as that they were going to have to climb. At least Steve had been truthful about that particular fact.

  
But, one truthful fact out of a potential thousand false ones didn't make someone trust worthy, so the long-haired man kept his guard as high as it'd ever been.

  
Arriving at the base of the wall, Steve announced: "Now, since I'm assuming that the brickhouse of a backpack has what you need to climb this thing, I'm going to need you to toss me mine."

  
But, looking at what he'd "borrowed" from the other man and that was was now encircling his own waist, Bucky was a little bit confused. "Look," he said while looking at the blonde man, "I'm not sure you're seeing what I'm seeing right now, but this toolbelt thing of yours? It's actually the width of a fanny pack! How in the world is there supposed to be-"

  
"First compartment." was all Steve replied to that.

  
"...what?" was all Bucky asked.

  
But, following the other man's pointed finger, he quickly caught on as, looking a bit closer, he could actually see cloths compartments popping up all around the toolbelt. And, feeling a bit inside one, Bucky found himself face to face with:

  
"A mini bunch of ropes?! What in the-?" he exclaimed. 

  
But Steve, feeling his impatience growing, simply wiggled his fingers as he said: "Give it! And it's called telescopic, _not_ mini!""

  
So, doing what he'd been told, Bucky tossed the _telescopic_ assembled bunch of ropes towards the other man, who grabbed it in on go and, much to the long-haired man's amazement, basically opened it up to make what looked like a waterfall worth of ropes just fall down onto the ground. Looking at Bucky with a smug grin, Steve simply said as an explanation:

  
"Just because it's small at first doesn't mean that it can't become bigger later."

  
And that second innuendo was the reason right there why Bucky was now the one rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

* * *

  
"So, if my calculations are right, so far I've tossed you: ropes, two icepicks, bolts with suction cups at the end and now...a bottle of water." exclaimed Bucky as he and Steve had finally ended their uphill climb and were now marching down a slight slope. 

  
"Ahah." was all the other man responded, his nose buried deep inside the piece of paper he'd been following (at least, that he'd *said* he'd been following) for the past four hours or so. 

  
"But it was empty when I took it out. Why in the world would you need an empty bottle unless the-ee.." the long-haired man's words were quickly cut out from his mouth as, his eyes now big as a pair of saucers, he found himself standing in front of...

  
"Told 'ya I'd let you show the underground pool to your future audience." Steve with a smirk, patting him on the shoulder before turning back around and passing his shocked form.

  
Because yeah, just like Steve had promised for the second time in a row now, Bucky was now standing in front of the third cavern. 

  
And, as he looked at the bearded man filling up his empty bottle and genuinely smile for the first time...

  
...for a moment there, he let his mind think...

  
...that maybe this guy wasn't as much of a punk as Bucky thought he was.


	9. As much of a jerk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new predicament makes the tension between the pair mellow out for a bit.

_"Aaannndd scene."_

  
…huh.  
Sitting there while Bucky was doing his "YouTube" thing had actually been kind of...nice. 

  
If there was one thing that Steve learned, while listening to him talking about the place the two were sitting in right now, it was that long-haired man was quite the speaker. It was his first time actually assisting to one of the other man's entire "bits", where he explained everything that he knew about a certain place and man, this guy had done his homework. He'd even talked about stuff Steve didn't even know about and if there was one place the bearded man had done his own homework about, it was this one...

  
...for professional purposes of course...

  
But a long, long time ago, he'd done the same for more....personal... purposes...

  
***Growl***

  
He thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling noise and looking down, a flush suddenly went to Steve's cheeks when he realized that it came from his stomach. He hoped to god the other man hadn't heard what his body had done just now.

  
Seeing Bucky put his camera back in his backpack, indicating that he was done with his recording at the moment, made the other man grin as it told him that he could finally speak. 

  
"Hey. Uhm, I don't know about you, but I think this could be a great occasion to eat a little something before we get this show back on the road. What do you think?" the blonde man asked and Bucky, with a grin of his own, nodded as he replied:

  
"Sure! I was starting to get a little hungry myself anyway." Feeling around the belt that he was wearing, the long-haired man raised his head once more and asked: "Uh, yeah, I don't know if you brought anything with you to eat, but it's supposed to be..."

  
"Oh, sorry. Third department to the left." responded Steve, already salivating at the tasty, tasty cookies and cream gourmet meal he'd so carefully chosen to bring. 

  
Only, there was a small problem:

  
"Heh, yeah. I counted at least four times now and...I'm not seeing anything inside that third department to the left right now." warned the other man from his side of the cavern. 

  
Well...shit.

* * *

  
"Tenth one?"

  
"Mini-saw."

  
"So, no. Eleventh?"

  
"Mini-ladder."

  
"Again, no. Twelfth, maybe."

  
"No, that's a mini...flame-thrower? What the hell?!"

  
"...it helps burn down all the errant spiderwebs and melts the ice and stuff. …what? Stop staring at me like that and keep searching for my MRE, alright?" said Steve with a wave of the hand.

  
But Bucky, still a bit shocked at the fact that he'd been holding a retractable gas thank in one hand and an igniter in the other just now, found his mind stuck on something else. "Wait, an MRE? One of those gooey things that soldiers eat when they're in the middle of the field? You were going to eat that?!" he asked incredulously.

  
Steve raised a finger to defend himself: "Hey! I'll let you know that this stuff is very nutritious and can also be very succulent when you know what you're doing, okay? So, stop mocking my dinner choices and just go to the next compartment to see if it's there!"

  
"Well, I'm sorry to inform you that there's no gooey junk in any of those compartments! Your goddamn flame-thrower was in the last one, then it goes back to the one that had your ropes in it." Bucky informed the other man and that right there made Steve start to panic.

  
What in the hell was he going to do now? Sure, he'd been able to survive on nature's food before, but this was a cavern and there wasn't an inch of vegetables or even an animal to be found. And looking at his watch, it was already 9PM and there was still a way to go before he made his way out the Caves and the team came back to pick him up. And sure, water could satisfy his hunger for a while but...

  
"...here" he suddenly heard a voice to his right and to his complete shock, he found Bucky suddenly sitting beside him and holding what appeared to be...half of a sandwich.

  
"Wh-what?" asked the blonde man and Bucky, now the one smiling genuinely for the first time, responded by putting the triangular piece of bread inside the palm of his hand and saying:

  
"You really think I was going to eat right in front of your face while you apparently left your stuff at camp base or whatever it is you call home? I might still think you're highly suspicious, but you've got us here in one piece and you actually let me do my thing just now. The least I can do is not let you go hungry. So, here. Stop leaving your mouth hanging like that and eat."

  
Well, even if it hadn't been his first choice for a meal, Steve wasn't about to turn down a bout of hospitality.

  
And, giving the piece of bread a good bite and discovering an absolute explosion of delicious tastes hiding inside, Steve thought that maybe...maybe the other man was right.

  
Because, compared to what he was eating right now, MRE *was* in fact just a bunch of gooey stuff.

  
And, looking at the other man seemingly enjoying what he was eating just as much as he was (maybe even more), his mind wondered...

  
…that maybe this guy wasn't as much of a jerk as Steve thought he was.


	10. The tremors and the big talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another predicament makes Bucky finally see the real Steve.

"You know, there's something that's been nagging at me ever since we've been walking together." said Bucky about three hours later. They'd moved on from the cavern with the underground water and were now about two thirds on their way to the penultimate one. Sure, this particular cavern hadn't anything special like an echo chamber, what was pretty much a crystalline potent lake and all kinds of ancient mural paintings, but it was as much as part of the Caves' history as those three and the very first cavern they'd visited, so an extended stop and a "YouTube" piece on it just _had_ to be made. "I mean sure, right now you've got my map so to get us where we need to go, but before that, how exactly did you made your way around these parts?"

  
"Oh, it's simple." responded Steve nonchalantly, as the pair crouched down to go under a low rocky ceiling. "I had a radar that uses echolocation to help me see which way I had to go. But right now, it's in the toolbelt that you're wearing, you know the tiny beepy thing you thought was a radio when you took it out?" he added as he turned his head to look at the other man.

  
"Oh, that! Right." Bucky answered and, remembering which department it'd been stored, also added as he took it out once more: "So it was _that_ thing that's massaging my butt for like an hour now..."

  
That made the other man freeze in his tracks. "Wh-what did you just say?!"

  
But Bucky shrugged as he answered: "Well, I've been feeling this buzzing sensation against one of my ass cheeks and at first I thought that your mini-radio had a massage option for some reason, but now..."

  
Steve didn't let the other man finish as he said in a strangled voice: "No, that option isn't for massaging any kind of cheeks, it's supposed to indicate when there's a..."

  
But he never got to finish his own sentence as suddenly, everything around them began to shake. Not violently, mind you, but strong enough for both men's center of gravity shift and take their legs from under them. 

  
After a minute, when the tremors finally subsided, Steve gingerly sat up and looked around him. Nothing major seemed to have shifted in the environment, thank god. 

  
He was about to ask Bucky if he was okay, but...

  
_"OW! O-OW!!"_

  
The other man had just answered that particular question all on his own.

* * *

  
"Really Steve, ow. You don't have to carry me like-ow. I'm fine, reall-ow!" insisted Bucky, but the bearded man wasn't listening to him. 

  
"Yeah right, you're fine. Someone that yells out the word _"ow"_ every steps that they make is somebody that is totally, _totally_ fine!" he sarcastically answered, stopping to adjust his hold on the arm that was now wrapped around his left shoulder. 

  
But the long-haired man, spotting a nearby large rock, quickly disentangled himself from the other man's hold on his body and sat (or more precisely, plopped) right on top of it. "Look, it's just no use. I've got what I pretty much suspect is a sprained ankle because I fell down on my ass like an idiot. I already knew there was a chance that an earthquake could hit anytime around these parts because that's how these Caves were created in the first place. And it could have hit worse, there's been passageways and all kind of shortcuts that have totally been closed off and even collapsed because of tremors. Did I listen to my sister's warning that this trip wasn't such a great idea? No. Did I still do the trip? Yes. Am I looking like a fucking jackass right now that takes unnecessary risks because he wants to show everyone what's so great about the world they live in, instead of living the rest of his life in his secure little town living inside his mother's secure guest house? Oh yeah, _that_ I am! And do I want to get the hell out of here and just forget about my stupid "YouTube" idea? Oh, you bet I-"

  
But his ranting was suddenly stopped when he felt two large hands one each side of his cheeks...

  
And in front of him was a kneeling Steve, looking at him with shiny eyes as he said: "I'd just turned 19 when I did my first trip. It was my first birthday without my mom and I...I just needed to get away for a while. So, I bought tickets for the first flight that I saw out of the US and do you know where I ended up? The Himalayas."

  
Bucky couldn't believe his ears. "You-you climbed Mount Everest?!"

  
Steve chuckled as he answered: "About a third of it, yeah. But I didn't have the equipment to go all the rest of the way and I had to retreat when a huge snowstorm ended up hitting. I never got the chance to back to that place. And do you know what's always been my two biggest regrets about the whole thing?" When he felt the other man shake his head between his palms, he answered: "That I didn't finish the whole trek up there and that I didn't have any kind of camera with me to commemorate the whole thing. But you do, Bucky so please, you can't abandon now."

  
Bucky frowned at what the bearded man had just said. "But I don't get it. You're probably fifteen times richer than me from all of those collectioners paying you to get what they wanted. You've got these...weird pieces of equipment that could probably get you up and down that thing in the blink of an eye and help commemorate your experiences ten times over. Why in the world haven't beaten the world record for most times someone went at the top of that mountain already?" he asked.

  
And Steve, with a wistful smile, simply responded: "If you're telling me this, then I guess it mean you haven't checked *every* department my toolbelt's got."  
"...what?" Now the long-haired man was absolutely confused.

  
"The zipper between your waist and the rest of the actual belt. Just open it." was all the bearded man responded while freeing Bucky's face from his hold. 

  
And lo and behold, while stretching the toolbelt away from his body, the sitting man was indeed seeing a long zipper that indicated that another department was behind all of the other ones.   
When he finally unzipped it, inside he found...

  
...a folded check. With the name "Steve Rogers" changed to "Brock Romlow".

  
"All those payments my employers give me? I've always given them to the rest of my team because they, oh they like the cash. Just change my name to theirs and bingo, they get what they want no problem. My employers over the years have maybe thought that I do this for for all the coins in the world, but I don't. I never did Buck. This job was the only way that I found to do what I truly wanted to do with my life: travelling and seeing things that hadn't been seen by the human eye since all the way to the beginning of time. All I had to do in exchange for this opportunity was to bring a piece of it back with me. Kind of like Nathan Drake or even Lara Croft. But you see, Lara Croft had to save the world and Nathan Drake wanted to get rich. And the problem is: I don't need and I don't wanna do neither of that. And seeing you do what you've been doing all this time, it's making me realize that there is maybe another way to do what I wanna so without breaking apart the world that I wanna see."

  
Sniffling a bit as he saw the sparkle of Steve's eyes grow even wider than before, Bucky responded with a bit of a smirk: "What? 'You want to start a "YouTube" channel and competition against me?"

  
Steve let out a laugh at that thought. Taking the other man's hand in his own, he said with a smile: "Maybe, I don't know. We'll see. But, after this job, I think I'm gonna need some time to think about what I wanna do with my life."

  
Bucky's smile dimmed at that other thought: "You really gotta do this? Can't you just, I don't know, send whoever is employing you a picture of what he or she wants?"

  
Looking down at the ground, Steve responded while shrugging his shoulders: "If only it was that easy. But I can't, I'm sorry." Trying to light up the mood, the bearded man looked up once again as he proposed: "Well, I don't know about you but my knees are starting to cramp and if we actually wanna finish this trek, we better get moving. What do you think?"

  
Seeing the other man suddenly turn around and tap at both of his shoulders, Bucky was now the one to let out a laugh as he said: "Steve, it's a really nice thought, but I'm sitting here with a sprained ankle and we haven't moved a mile since it happened. I'm like 230 pounds and I'm pretty sure my backpack weighs the same as me. There is absolutely no way that you're gonna be able to- woah!"

  
But, just like he (and the brickhouse that was indeed his backpack) weighed as light as a feather, Bucky suddenly found himself in piggyback position up against the bearded man's surprisingly strong back and in complete shock, he exclaimed: "Jesus! Did someone inject you with some kind of super soldier serum or something?!"

  
Only for Steve to answer with a chuckle as he began the rest of the trek towards their latest destination: "You would have the same kind of back strength if you had to move boulders after boulders just to open a single 400 year-old door in the deep Outback of Australia."

  
 _"Good lord, this guy really **was** some kind of Lara Drake"_, Bucky thought to himself as he was being whisked away towards the fourth cavern.


	11. The main event

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pair arrives at the last cavern.

Bucky groaned as he opened his eyes. Confused by all of the darkness he was surrounded by, he turned his head and everything came back to him the second he saw who was sleeping next to him.

  
Ah. _Right_.

  
He and Steve had arrived at the penultimate cavern just before 1AM. After letting the long-haired man do his "YouTube" bit about this particular place, Steve had proposed to stay the rest of the night here and do the rest of the trek the next morning. Bucky had agreed and together, with the help of their combined equipment, the pair had: 

  
1) Started a fire.

  
"Really Steve? You wanna spend some of your mini-laser energy on this?"

  
"And you wanna spend some of your lighter energy on this?"

  
"...you've got a point."

  
2) Iced Bucky's hurt ankle.

  
"Fifteenth department. The one you thought was a mini-slinkie." 

  
It turned out that sometimes, what you thought was at first a simple children toy turned out to be some weird nano-machine thing that dropped to freezing temperature and had some anti-pain cream that went straight into your skin when you inserted it around your ankle and twisted the whole thing.

  
3) Laid comfortably for the night.

  
Well, Bucky had, thanks to the wool-knitted blanket his mother had given to him just before his trip. 

  
Steve, on the other hand...

  
"Come on, man. I know you're cold. I can see you shaking from over here." Bucky had said from his side of the cavern.

  
But the other man hadn't budged, even though he was pretty much trembling like a leaf from underneath his very own patented "Hydra" blanket. 

"Come on Steve! That thing that's covering your back looks more like something you put on top of some garage for the winter instead of a blanket. If you keep this up, it's you that's not going to be able to finish the trek, not me."

  
At Bucky's words and silent invitation to join him underneath something that looked at least a bit more warm than what was pretty much just a single sheet of white plastic, Steve's resolve finally crumbled and, like a dog that was finally seeing his favorite bone after months apart, the bearded man pretty much sprint-crawled toward the awaiting piece of toasty comfort.

  
But, as it turned out, by the time the next morning came and Steve was now the one yawning himself awake and opening his eyes...

  
"Did...did we throw away the blanket during the night?" questioned Steve.

  
"Yes, yes I believe we did. And did we spend the rest of the time snuggling?" questioned Bucky.

  
"Yes, yes I also believe we did." answered Steve.

  
"Ah." answered back Bucky.

  
A moment passed.

  
"So, ho-how's your ankle?" finally asked Steve, a change of subject that the other man grasped with all of his might, because, amongst other things...

  
...Bucky _really_ didn't want Steve to see the smile of pure contentment his face had been wearing ever since he'd woken up in the other's man arms. 

* * *

"Oh, oh _wow_."

  
"Yeah, you can say that again."

  
Two hours and a better ankle later, the pair had finally arrived at the last cavern, the one where the representation of a giant buffalo travelling across a starry sky with a mountain just underneath it was painted from wall to wall.

  
A truly marvelous masterpiece. 

  
At the end of the respective journey.

  
Which meant a couple of things:

  
"So, I guess I should be giving you your map now and let you do your "YouTube" thing." said Steve, scratching the back of his neck as he did so.

  
Looking down at the ground, Bucky replied: "Yeah. And I guess I should give you back your belt and let you...do what you have to do."

  
Coughing uncomfortably, the other man said: "Yeah, because, you know...I've got a job to do."

  
"Me too. I've got a job to do too." acquiesced the long-haired man.

  
Neither of them budged an inch.

  
"I mean, nothing's more important than a job, right?" added Steve with a forced laugh.

  
"No. Nothing's more important." also added Bucky with a forced laugh of his own.

  
They both raised their heads to look at the other.

"It's... everything." said one man. 

To this day, neither men know who said that sentence the earliest between the two of them, but it never really mattered anyway, as at the second those words came out, the one that didn't say them first replied with:

  
"It's absolutely everything."

And in that instant, by taking a few strides, Steve Rogers set himself a bunch of new rules:

  
1) Grab James "Bucky" Barnes.  
2) Kiss the fuck out of him.  
3) And never let him go.

  
  
And James "Bucky" Barnes, what did he bring back with him when he finally got out of this place?

  
1) A camera full of potential and memories from all of the caverns he visited (including the last one).  
2) A backpack that contained some rope, a flashlight and a small freezer.  
3) And of course, an armful of one Steve Rogers.


	12. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For one final time, exactly what it says on the tin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And voilà, this story is done! I wanna thank everyone who left kudos, subscribed, left comments, bookmarked or simply read this little diddy of mine. It really means the world to me. :)

In some high-rise building in New York City, Alexander Pierce was feeling as miffed as he'd ever been.

  
Because, even one year later after receiving it, he still no Earthly idea what Steve Rogers meant by this...

  
This _thing_.

  
Who in the world accepted the job of retrieving something for someone,

  
Only for them to send back a picture of said thing with the inscription _"Get yourself another Nathan Croft."_ on the back of it in return?

  
...and who the hell was this "Nathan Croft" anyway?

  
Thank the lord Brock Rumlow had picked up the "Hydra" leadership ball almost the second that it had been so unceremoniously dropped...

* * *

  
Meanwhile, in suburban Indiana, right in the heart of a small town called Shelbyville, Winifred Barnes was pacing back and forth nervously. 

  
Because, after almost 200 combined texts and phone calls, her sweet baby boy and his boyfriend of one year now had finally exited the airport, coming home from their latest "YouTube" channel adventure: 

  
Climbing Mount Everest together. 

  
So, as she heard the familiar beeping of a 1992 red Chevrolet coming from the driveway, she knew that an avalanche of kisses were about to be dropped on a pair of embarrassed but grateful faces.

  
And, quite frankly, she wouldn't have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> All of the places, legends and technology that are being described in this work are fictitious and completely made up. The only things that are real in this story are: the Himalayas, the Australian Outback and a story that I read in a book once about how a cave was discovered. No identification with actual places or ancient beliefs is intended or should be inferred.


End file.
